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Turkey fry host Jamie Swisher brings in a salad platter to add to the buffet at the Olde Hillcrest neighborhood's turkey fry in Wauwatosa. What started as a quest to get the turkey out of the kitchen has slowly grown into a neighborhood event. Michael Sears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Steve Stall (left) checks out the turkey in the air fryer and smoker unit belonging to James Reeves (right). At rear left a turkey breast is grilling over charcoal. Michael Sears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The enticing aroma of roasting poultry hugs a visitor as she rounds the corner to the rear of the Wauwatosa house. It’s a crisp but sunny October day.

In the backyard, a handful of guests cluster and chat, coats on, drinks in hand, watching the Great Turkey Project, manned by homeowner Brit Swisher and neighbor James Reeves.

One turkey roasting in an air fryer/smoker. Another sizzling for a few final minutes in bubbling oil in the deep-fryer, a third bird waiting to take its place. A turkey breast on the Weber grill.

Seventy-five pounds of bird in all.

Inside the 120-plus-year-old house, in the mud room off the kitchen, two buffet tables groan with food, much of it brought by guests: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing; green bean, corn and sweet potato casseroles, cornbread and rolls keeping warm on one —nearly a dozen salads lined up on the other. (Desserts would appear later.)

Thanksgiving comes early to the Olde Hillcrest neighborhood on Tosa’s east side. And the 30-odd guests crammed into the Swishers’ cheery kitchen and spilling out into adjoining rooms couldn’t be more pleased.

Most of their kids are grown and gone, they explained. The kids who all went to school together. Thanksgiving Day now often means a smaller group at the table, with kids living out of state or married offspring dining at the in-laws.’ It’s just not the same.

The first turkey fry was a hit because it was “a chance to have that community connection,” said Karen Jaeckels, who had walked over with her husband, David.

Added neighbor Leah Rosenow, “We don’t see each other so much when the weather starts to get cold.”

This un-Thanksgiving dinner got its start from some friendly neighbor taunting. As Jamie tells it, about 15 years ago she told her husband, “who doesn’t cook at all,” that she wanted her oven free on Thanksgiving Day for other dishes. So could he please do the turkey outside?

He took up the challenge, deep-frying one turkey and grilling another.

According to neighbor and turkey fry co-host Connie Reeves, Brit Swisher would boast every year about his fried turkey. So she started asking, when do we get to sample your turkey?

Finally, three or four years ago, the two couples decided to host a pre-holiday turkey fry for the neighborhood. That year, it was a week before Thanksgiving. The next year they moved it up to October, and now they shoot for a Packers bye week. Neither couple knew how well it would be received.

“I was just trying to get rid of a turkey out of my freezer,” Reeves recalled.

The deep-fried turkeys are the chief draw.

“He calls it cooking, but let’s face it, he stands there with a beer in his hand,” Jamie Swisher said of Brit. “(Other than this), he honestly doesn’t cook at all. He thinks making a sandwich is a production.”

But there’s a bit more to the turkey operation than her comments suggest.

But before he lowers each turkey into the oil, he injects it in multiple places with a homemade Creole butter: a mixture of butter, vinegar, water and a pepper seasoning. (He wouldn’t share the recipe.) He also coats the turkey all over with a Cajun spice rub.

He uses peanut oil for frying because of its higher smoke point, and he learned after the first year to spread large pieces of cardboard under the fryer to keep the inevitable oil spills off his patio.

When he lifts the 22-pound turkey out of the pot, after about 45 minutes, it’s a deep golden-brown, crispy-looking specimen. Into the house it goes for a short rest before carving.

Sampling the meat reveals moist, flavorful turkey, both white and dark meat. As a counterpoint, the turkey from the air fryer/smoker has a distinctive smoky flavor.

While waiting for the call to line up for the buffet, guests inside the house nibble on appetizers, sip wine and chat about weddings and grandchildren, community happenings, the Brewers (they had hoped this could be a celebration of the team’s National League win, foiled the night before) and previous Turkey Fry gatherings.

The Turkey Fry is not the only food-centric activity for this historic neighborhood of well-kept old homes, roughly bounded by 68th Street on the east, 76th Street on the west, Milwaukee Avenue on the south and Lloyd Street on the north.

“We have a dining-out group,” said Jamie Swisher. “We have a ‘Winers’ group where we explore wine, we have a beer club (called Beer Nuts) … a lot of them focus on drinking.”

There’s also a supper group of 16 couples who plan quarterly potlucks, with rotating host homes.

And outside the food realm, there’s a play group, a senior citizen group, a restoration group “because of all the old homes — people are always renovating,” Swisher said.

“And for anybody who moves into the neighborhood, every two years we have a newcomers party, where we get everybody together.”

But for some Olde Hillcrest residents, the Turkey Fry has become the pinnacle neighborhood event.

“Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal of the year,” Karen Jaeckels remarked. “I hate having to wait for it until the end of November.

“Here we have a whole Thanksgiving meal in October, and I don’t have to cook!”

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Kids at St. Eugene School in Fox Point explain how to prepare a Thanksgiving Day turkey.
Mike De Sisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Blanch asparagus in boiling water until crisp-tender. Drain and place in an ice water bath to cool. Drain, pat dry and cut into 1-inch pieces. Place in a serving bowl. Add pine nuts and Gorgonzola. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving time.

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Red and green grapes are mixed with a sweet creamy dressing in this frosted salad.(Photo: Michael Sears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Olde Hillcrest resident (and Wauwatosa mayor) Kathy Ehley said she loves this salad year-round, but in fall, she adds butternut squash. She found the original recipe on the Genius Kitchen website but cut back on the cranberries; she found 2 cups to be too sweet. The salad is great as leftovers, she said.

Add couscous and stir about 1 minute or until couscous is lightly browned. Stir in stock, cover with lid, reduce heat to low and simmer about 15 minutes or until couscous has absorbed most of the liquid and is al dente.

While couscous cooks, chop green onion, red onion and cilantro.

Drain couscous in a colander, but do not rinse. Set aside to cool.

Once couscous is cool, stir in remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil to coat and separate the grains.

Spritz with lemon juice and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes: Ehley adds butternut squash in fall, when it’s in season. She also likes to sprinkle on a bit of The Spice House’s Wauwatosa Village Seasoning.

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This green bean casserole is made completely from scratch.(Photo: Nancy Stohs)

Not a single onion ring died for this green bean casserole.

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas for the last 25 years Christine Tway has served this adaptation of a recipe from Martha Stewart. “I like to use her recipes as a starting point and create new ideas around diet and personal preference,” she said.

Make filling: In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, cream, pumpkin, both sugars and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add eggs and beat just until mixed in. In a separate bowl, mix flour with spices. Add to cream cheese mixture and blend well.

Pour into baked crust. Bake 1 hour, until edges are set. Remove from oven and run a sharp knife around inside edge. Chill.

When completely cooled, serve with whipped cream.

Tip: To prevent cracks in cheesecake, a bowl of water place in the oven while it bakes might help.